Microsoft’s Cortana apps officially available on iOS, Android devices

Microsoft launches Cortana for Android and iOS, but only in the U.S. and China.

The computing giant first revealed plans to introduce its Siri-like Windows digital assistant to other mobile platforms back in May — the Android public beta kicked off in August, followed by a limited beta rollout on iOS last month. The app is effectively a companion to Windows 10 machines, letting you start and finish tasks across devices, receive reminders, track key information (such as flights), get missed-call notifications, and more.

Though you don’t technically need a Windows 10 PC to take advantage of the Cortana app, Microsoft says its assistant apps work best when used with Cortana’s desktop counterpart. Interestingly, it is also compatible with the OnePlus One Android phone which runs on Cyanogen OS — this is OnePlus’s first flagship phone, which was replaced by the OnePlus 2 earlier this year. When the two are used together, the idea is something like Apple’s Continuity features, which make it easy to switch between tasks on different iOS and OS X devices.

While Cortana for iOS and Android are designed to extend the digital assistant’s functionality beyond Windows and onto other platforms, there are some features available on Windows phones that won’t work elsewhere — such as saying “Hey, Cortana” to activate Cortana hands-free. Once the update, expected later this month, is live, OnePlus One users will be able to invoke the “Hey Cortana,” command and use the assistant to adjust system settings like changing network modes, activating quiet mode and turning off a device.